Diamonds in the Rough

‘Tik Tok on the clock’

“Jasey,” Valary groaned, rolling away from her.

She stuck her arm out from underneath the covers, reaching for the phone on the table beside her bed. She brought it closer and squinted at the bright LCD screen.

Cassie

“Well finally you answer!”
“What do you want Cass?” She said pushing the blanket up over her head, “I was sleeping.”

“At three in the afternoon?” She asked surprised.
“I didn’t come home till six,” Jasey explained.
“Yeah because you went and got your nose done with Synyster Gates,” Valary mocked.
“Shut up,” Jasey hissed.

“Were you drinking with Johnny again?” Cassie asked.
“No!” Jasey quipped, “We had an end of tour party.”
“Hey, you still owe me a party when I come out there again,” Cassie reminded.
“When you graduate from your art school, I’ll throw you a party,” Jasey promised.
“With Avenged and Good Charlotte?”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Jasey said closing her eyes.

“I can hear you trying to fall asleep on me Jase,” Cassie giggled, “Go back to bed. I’ll text you later.”

“Night Cass,” Jasey smiled.
“Night,” She said and ended the call.

Jasey reached over and put the phone back on the table.

“You’re still making dinner,” Valary said half asleep.
“Ugh,” Jasey groaned, “Italian or Polish?”

Valary rolled over, facing Jasey, “Italian!”
“Lasagna?”

Valary nodded.

Jasey let out a heavy sigh, “I’ll get up then.”

She threw the covers off and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, touching her toes to the carpeted floor. She looked at her closet that was full of dresses, hoodies, and shoes, pulling out an Avenged Sevenfold hoodie from a few tours ago.

She grabbed her purse off the dresser and her phone off the table.

“I’ll tell Matt you’re in here,” Jasey said before leaving the room. She got no response back from Valary as she shut the door behind her.

----

A few short days later, Jasey was talking to Alex via webcam. He told her that she should come out and see them, since it would be quite a while before they were back in California.

“Hey Alex,” Jasey said picking up her phone, “I have to go. Brian’s calling.”
“Oooooooh!” He cooed, “The boy is calling!”

She blushed, “I’ll talk to you later.”

She exited the camera window and answered her phone.

“Cassie was right, you do take forever to answer phone calls,” Brian chuckled on the other end.

“I was talking to Alex, sorry.”
“The pop punk kid?”
“The one who’s in my cousin’s band, yes.”
“Oh yeah! I remember him beating me in beer pong the last time they were out here.”

Jasey giggled, “That was a great night.”

As her light giggle slowed, silence fell between them.

“How’s your face?” Jasey asked.
“My eye isn’t bruised anymore,” He said proudly, “And all the cuts are almost all healed.”
“That’s good.”

Again, silence.

This had nothing to do with her not being able to think or anything to say, it was about her having so much to say and not knowing how to say it; after everything that had happened the last few days or tour, her mind hasn’t stopped thinking. She thought that maybe staying away from him for a few days would help her sort it all out, but it made her more confused than anything.

She had one question she desperately needed to be answered.
Did he mean it when he said he loved her?

But, knowing him, he probably didn’t. He was so bipolar when it came to relationships.

“You okay Jase?” He asked, snapping her back into reality, “You’re really quiet.”
“Yeah,” She lied, “I’m fine.”

“Can I ask you something?” He said a little unsurely.
“Yeah.”
“Why have you been hiding for three days in your house?” He asked, scrunching his eyebrows together, “I thought that you wanted to give us another shot.”

Fuck.

She sighed, “I do,” She hesitated, “There’s just been a lot on my mind lately.”

“If we’re going to try and make this work again, you have to be willing to open up to me,” He informed sounding a little annoyed.

“I know, I know,” She sighed, “Can I just figure out how to say any of this before I tell you?”
“Come on Jase,” He pressed, “Just tell me.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out so she shut it.

“I can’t,” She said softly.

“Is it about me?” He asked, now sounding like he was blaming it on himself.

She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, “Look Brian, it’s not that I don’t want to try again.”

”Then what is it?” He asked, getting impatient.
She tried to force back the tears in her eyes, “I want to be with you so much that it hurts sometimes, because one minute you want to be with me and the next minute you’re going eight months without talking to me.”

She hesitated again before continuing on, “All of this is just fucked up in my head because the one warped tour I spent with you, I fell so hard for you. I thought it was all just a dream because I’ve liked you for so long and then we broke up. I didn’t understand why and I still don’t, but then when you finally grew up and started to talk to me again, you sent me back into that confused state.”

She paused and wiped away the tears now streaming down her cheeks, “I’m a mess Brian. I’m a mess that you caused.”

”Jase,” He sighed.

She cut him off, “Don’t. Don’t keep doing this to me.”

She didn’t even give him a chance to speak before she hit the end button on her phone. She slid it open once more and opened a new text.

I’m coming to Baltimore.

She hit send and shut it, jamming it into the back pocket of her jeans.

Second later her phone buzzed.

I was hoping you would say that. We booked a flight for you yesterday and we were going to get Zack to kidnap you for us! :)

Jasey laughed through her tears and went to pull a large duffle bag out of her closet.